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Press Release

For Immediate Release

Libertarian Party endorses Surveillance State Repeal Act

Urges Americans: Let’s Get This Passed!

The Libertarian Party endorses the Surveillance State Repeal Act (H.R. 1466) introduced by Rep Mark Pocan (D-WI), which would substantially scale back the surveillance apparatus of the U.S. government.

Nicholas Sarwark, LP Chair said, “The Surveillance State Repeal Act would dramatically improve the privacy of Americans’ personal and business communications and restore substantial Fourth Amendment rights now routinely violated by the U.S. government.”

Press Release

For Immediate Release

Republican tax plan leaves federal tax burden dangerously high

Senators Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and Mike Lee (R., Utah)– lauded among Republican politicians as two of their more “fiscally conservative” members – proposed numerous changes to the federal income tax for which most working taxpayers would see little if any benefit.

Press Release

Republican tax plan leaves federal tax burden dangerously high

Senators Marco Rubio (R., Fla.) and Mike Lee (R., Utah)– lauded among Republican politicians as two of their more “fiscally conservative” members – proposed numerous changes to the federal income tax for which most working taxpayers would see little if any benefit.

Libertarian Party Response to President Obama’s State of the Union Address

Click here to view the Libertarian Party response to President Barack Obama's 2015 State of the Union address

Press Release

Lawmakers and Silk Road investigators, prosecutors are the real perps

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Nicholas J. Sarwark, Chair of the Libertarian National Committee, released the following statement today:

The Libertarian Party calls for dismissal of the unfounded criminal charges against alleged Silk Road founder and operator Ross Ulbricht, whose trial is set to begin tomorrow, and for the resignation of the New York prosecutors who trumped up charges against an innocent man.

Silk Road is a website that allows its users to maintain their privacy while trading goods and services by using Tor, an open network that protects anonymity, and the digital currency Bitcoin for payment.

Because the site is alleged to accommodate the buying and selling of illegal drugs, prosecutors have charged Ulbricht with a slew of crimes: narcotics trafficking, computer hacking, money laundering, engaging in a criminal enterprise, and conspiracy to traffic in fraudulent IDs.

The prosecution has failed to identify a single victim of any of the alleged offenses.

This trial grossly oversteps the bounds of a properly limited government: one that protects the lives, liberty and property of its citizens against perpetrators who would do them harm – and no more.

The perpetrators in this case are the FBI, which shut down Silk Road and may have illegally hacked the site, and New York prosecutors involved in this case.

Their immediate target is Ross Ulbricht. Their ultimate target is every American whose rights are threatened by this attempt to expand government control over the Internet and to violate individual liberties.

Attorney and Simple Justice blogger Scott Greenfield notes the freedoms that are at stake in this trial:

‘If Ulbricht is convicted, it opens the door for the censure and erosion of a free Internet. Under present law, website hosts are not held responsible in civil cases for illegal actions on their sites. This case could set precedent and open the door to criminal liability for web hosts.

‘A US citizen’s constitutional rights are being violated with vague allegations that do not cite specific crimes, a violation of the Fifth and Sixth Amendments to the US Constitution. In addition, his Fourth Amendment rights have been violated with illegal warrants and searches and seizures lacking any warrant. If the government can misapply the law against Ulbricht, it can do it to any of us.

‘In its documents, the government equates the desire for privacy (use of Tor for example) with criminal intent.

‘This case represents the first challenge to the government’s attempt to expand the money laundering statute to include digital currency.’

The prosecution may have further breached Ulbricht’s rights by inserting into the case allegations that he was involved in the planning of several homicides, even though no homicides or attempted homicides are charged as part of this case.

Discussing uncharged allegations of violent conduct appears to be a deliberate attempt to smear Mr. Ulbricht and prejudice the jury against him with accusations they know they can’t prove.

The attacks against Ulbricht are the work of a stubborn political class that refuses to acknowledge the utter failure of the Drug War. Dangerous drug use continues unabated since President Nixon declared his ‘War on Drugs’ in 1971.

In addition to dismissing the charges against Ulbricht, the Libertarian Party calls for:

Scaling back the FBI. When a government agency abuses its power, it needs to be downsized.

Downsizing all U.S. spy agencies. Their excessive size, spending and scope have led to abuses such as the Silk Road case.

Cutting total government spending commensurate with these cuts – so politicians don’t use the proceeds for new wars or injustices perpetrated on the American people

An immediate end to the failed War on Drugs

Whereas drugs, like alcohol and many pharmaceuticals, can be harmful to those who take them, the Drug Prohibition is far more dangerous. It encourages excessive drug use and more potent drugs. It demonizes and incarcerates people who have harmed no one else. It discourages labeling, testing and other responsible behaviors of free market merchants.

Worst of all, the Drug Prohibition, like the Alcohol Prohibition of the 1920s, provokes horrific and widespread violence in the U.S. and abroad.

We must stop harassing and criminalizing innocent Americans and go after the real perps: politicians who refuse to repeal bad laws and power-seeking government employees and agencies that violate individual rights.

Press Release

Libertarian Party calls for shutting down CIA, criminal prosecutions

Libertarian National Committee Chair Nicholas J. Sarwark released the following statement today:

"The CIA’s practice of torture confirmed by the Senate Intelligence Report released on December 9 shows the agency engaged in reprehensible and illegal behaviors that were, in effect, war crimes.

"The CIA and politicians redacted the bulk of the government’s report, which remains withheld from public view. One can only speculate as to the additional horrors that lie within the rest of the report, given the gravity of what was revealed.

Press Release

Libertarian Party: Stop deceiving Americans with the term 'government shutdown'

It’s a government slowdown, not a shutdown.

If you read this Libertarian news release, yet continue to use the term “government shutdown” in news reports, then you’re willfully deceiving the American people.

News media commonly warns that a “government shutdown” will result if there’s a breakdown in funding negotiations between Democratic and Republican politicians. But there is no pending “government shutdown.”

Nor has there ever been anything close to a “government shutdown” in modern American history.

The Libertarian Party is America's third largest political party, founded in 1971. Our vision is for a world in which all individuals can freely exercise the natural right of sole dominion over their own lives, liberty and property by building a political party that elects Libertarians to public office, and moving public policy in a libertarian direction.